Qualifier Schuman Faces No. 2 Seed Jones, Razeghi Meets No. 2 Seed Radulov in ITF J300 Finals Saturday in College Park; Rain Pushes Final US Open Qualifying Matches to Saturday for Eight Americans

©Colette Lewis 2023--
College Park MD--

Facing the top seed in her eighth match in seven days qualifier Aspen Schuman could have waved the white flag, but the 16-year-old Californian instead earned the best win of her junior career, beating Mayu Crossley of Japan 6-3, 6-0 in 61 minutes Friday in the semifinals of the ITF J300 at the Junior Tennis Champions Center.

Although the heat and humidity hadn't reached the peaks they would reach in the afternoon, the first set featured one grueling rally after the next, with Schuman winning the bulk of them.

"She's an all-around great player, she's very steady and she has great stamina, and I knew I had to work really hard to keep up with that," said Schuman, who has defeated three seeds this week. "Those were some long rallies, especially in the first set. She's a great player, so I expected going in we were both going to fight really hard and compete, so I was mentally prepared to have to work a little harder, especially early in the match."

Crossley held serve only once, in the third game of the first set, but Schuman didn't feel she picked up anything that led her to break the Crossley serve four times in the second set.

"I don't think there was anything I did much different," Schuman said. "I did look to be aggressive on second serves if I had the opportunity, but I think that was just how some of the long points happened to play out. I don't think there was a big thing I figured out or anything."

Schuman said this number of matches at this level is a new experience for her.

"It's tough going through qualifying, all the way," said Schuman, who is playing in just her second ITF J300 tournament. "I've never done this at ITFs; I've played qualifying but maybe haven't made it this far. This is a lot of matches."

Schuman said she is drinking a lot and sleeping a lot, but she thought she might do a little scouting, with her opponent in the final, No. 2 seed Emerson Jones of Australia, playing in a later match.

"But I may take a nap or something," Schuman said. "I may prioritize that."

Jones, who defeated No. 3 seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-2, has not lost a set in her four matches, half as many as Schuman has played, and she has been pleased with her level this week, feeling at home with the heat and humidity.

"I think I played pretty well today, and I've played pretty well all week," said the 15-year-old from the Gold Coast, who is the younger sister of current ITF Junior No. 68 Hayden Jones. "It's kind of like Australia, the courts, the conditions, so I am getting used to it."

Kostovic had played two three-hour matches, saving two match points in the first one, and was not able to hang with the depth and pace that Jones consistently generated. 

Jones describes her game as aggressive, yet she indulges in few emotional displays on the the court and appears unfazed by anything her opponent throws at her.

"I stay calm, and the last couple of matches I've done what I needed to do," said Jones, who will be playing in her second J300 final, having lost in the championship match in Thailand in March. "I don't get too worked up, and I just play point by point."

Jones doesn't know what to expect from Schuman, who is not a regular on the ITF Junior Circuit, so Jones will rely on her experience and the confidence she's gained this week.

"I'll just play my game and we'll see how it goes," Jones said.

The only three-set semifinal saw No. 2 seed Iliyan Radulov of Bulgaria give unseeded Alex Frusina a taste of his own medicine, coming from behind to take a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Frusina had dropped the first set in his four previous victories, but Radulov, who saved two match points in his first win this week over Nikita Filin, thought he was fresher in the final set.

"I wasn't playing my best in the first set," said the 18-year-old, who is a member the ITF's Grand Slam Development Player Program. "Those four matches for him, this was the moment to be in the third set now, and he was a little bit tired. For a match like this, it was impossible."

Frusina opened the second set with a break, but lost his next two service games, while Radulov began to raise his level. There was only one break in the third set, in the third game, but that was enough, with Radulov holding easily until the final game. Frusina still had hope for the break back when he hit a good return for 30-love, but Radulov earned a match point and converted it with a let service winner.

Radulov said that his close call in the second set against Filin, when he trailed 3-6, 3-5, 15-40, might be a positive sign as he has won tournaments "a couple of times" after saving match points earlier in the event.

"It was a strange match, but I'm happy to save match points and play the final," said Radulov, who has won two J300s in the past 12 months. "It's amazing for me. It will be a nice match."

It will be the first meeting between Radulov and No. 15 seed Alexander Razeghi, who defeated Branko Djuric of Serbia 7-6(3), 6-3.

Razeghi, who beat top seed Joao Fonseca of Brazil in the third round, No. 6 seed Rei Sakamoto in the quarterfinals and No. 3 seed Djuric, said he's looking forward to taking on the No. 2 seed in the final.

"I have a good amount of confidence, I'm happy where my game's at," said the 17-year-old left-hander from Texas. "I feel like I've been playing some good tennis. My opponent tomorrow is the No. 2 seed, top 10 in the world, I'll be ready for it though."

Razeghi started well in the semifinal, going up 3-1, but lost three straight games, and then was broken again at 4-all. He got the break back immediately, with Djuric failing to reach set point, and took control of the subsequent tiebreaker, taking a 5-2 lead and getting errors from Djuric on crucial points.

"It was pretty hot out and it was a pretty physical match," Razeghi said. "And I like my chances when it's like that."

Razeghi managed to hold serve throughout the second set, although the break he got in the first game was in jeopardy twice.

"I was down 15-40 at 3-2 and at 4-3, I saved another break point," Razeghi said. "He was playing some good tennis; even though he was pretty tired, he was still hitting the crap out of the ball, so I had to deal with that. But good holds and at 5-3 I played a good return game to win it."

Razeghi had beaten Djuric in their only previous meeting, last year in Milan, but although that was on clay, it helped Razeghi prepare for the erratic nature of Djuric's games.

"I feel like he's gotten way better since then," Razeghi said. "But because I had played him I knew he does miss sometimes, but that the winners were going to come as well. It's frustrating when he hits winners and I'm like, wow, even if I tried a hundred times I couldn't do that. So I knew I had to stay mentally locked in, so that when he did hit a couple of those winners I don't go away."

This is Razeghi's first J300 final since he won a title in Ecuador in February.

"It feels great, I like where I am right now, so I'm just going to have fun tomorrow, see how it goes."

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, with the girls scheduled to be played at the same time as the boys singles final.

USTA 18s finalists Alanis Hamilton and Kayla Chung, who are unseeded, defeated No. 8 seeds Crossley and Hephzibah Oluwadare of Great Britain 6-3, 6-2 to reach their second J300 final of the year. Hamilton and Chung, who avenged their recent defeat in San Diego to Kate Fakih and Olivia Center in the quarterfinals, reached the final of the J300 in Indian Wells in March.

They will play No. 3 seeds Tatum Evans and Japan's Wakana Sonobe, who defeated the unseeded 13-year-old twins Annika and Kristina Penickova 6-4, 6-2 Friday afternoon. Evans and Hamilton partnered at Wimbledon Junior Championships last month, reaching the semifinals.

Radulov and his partner Tianhui Zhang of China, seeded No. 3, prevented an all-USA boys doubles final, beating unseeded twins Kaylan and Meecah Bigun 6-4, 7-6(8). 

Kalamazoo 18s champions Frusina and Adhithya Ganesan, also unseeded, have now extended their winning streak to ten matches, defeating No. 5 seeds Tomasz Berkieta of Poland and Charlie Robertson of Great Britain 7-5, 6-3.

Frusina and Ganesan, who will be playing next week in the US Open men's main draw, received singles wild cards into the US Open Junior Championships, which were announced Thursday.

Finals begin at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday. Live scoring is available here.

Although Friday is usually the last day of qualifying at the US Open, rain delays Thursday and today have pushed 18 matches in the third and final round of qualifying to Saturday. Seven of those matches feature Americans, with Emilio Nava and Eliot Spizzirri playing each other for a spot in the main draw. 

The results from today, and Saturday's matchups:

Second round US Open qualifying Friday:

Katrina Scott[WC] d. Elvina Kalieva 7-6(6), 6-2

Emina Bektas [26] d. Julia Riera 6-3, 6-4

Maccartney Kessler[WC] d. Su Jeong Jang 6-2, 6-4

Fiona Crawley[WC] d. Timea Babos 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5)

Eliot Spizzirri[WC] d. Aleks Kovacevic 6-4, 6-4

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran[25] d. Aziz Dougaz 7-6(5), 6-4

Emilio Nava d. Andrea Vavassori 7-5, 6-4

Zachary Svajda d. Vasek Pospisil 3-6, 6-4, 6-2

Final round US Open qualifying Friday:

Sachia Vickery d. Yanina Wickmayer[3] 3-1 ret.

Katie Volynets[25] d. Erika Andreeva 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Final round US Open qualifying Saturday:

Zachary Svajda v Marc Polmans

Nicolas Moreno De Alboran[25] v Joris De Loore

Emilio Nava v Eliot Spizzirri[WC]

Emina Bektas[26] v Olivia Gadecki

Katrina Scott[WC] v Greet Minnen[5]

Maccartney Kessler[WC] v Eva Lys

Fiona Crawley[WC] v Kimberly Birrell[13]

The men's qualifying draw is here; the women's qualifying draw is here.